During the 2007 AGM held in Nigeria after the AfriNIC-6 meeting, two seats on the AfriNIC Board (of Directors) - (the Northern and Western Africa seats) was renewed.

After the vote, Rachida Jouhari (Morocco) and Pierre Dandjinou (Senegal) were elected as primary BoDs, while Mokthar Hamidi (Algeria) and Sunday Folayan (Nigeria) were elected as alternates for their respective regions. The elected boards took immediately their seat on the Board.

Congratulations for the new board members and we wish them success during their term.

AfriNIC, the Regional Internet Registry for Africa, held its 6th public policy meeting in Abuja, Nigeria from the 28 th April to 4 th May 2007 . This meeting held with AfNOG, AfREN, AfTLD and INET Africa exposed the latest works being carried out on the IPv6 as well as Internet Governance and IP number resources allocation policy in Africa . The main focus of this meeting was the IPv4 address exhaustion and what can be done by the community to address issues being raised by this exhaustion. As an incentive for greater IPv6 take-up and usage within Africa , a new fee schedule was approved for IPv6 Membership fees. Also, a 50% discount has been proposed to universities and research networks on set-up and annual membership fees.

It was a great opportunity for networking and sharing of best practices among the stakeholders in the African region. It also gave the opportunity to see how several countries ( Senegal and South Africa ) in Africa have implemented IPv6 in their network.

One of the numerous outcomes of this meeting was the setting up of Birds of Feather sessions on IPv4 exhaustion, anti-spam and the Policy Development Process.

The meeting also included two days of hands-on IPv6 training which was attended by 50 delegates. The training, which was provided by Cisco System and Consulintel, covered all aspects of IPv6 deployment, and was also used to train African trainers to whom AfriNIC will have recourse to for future training.

The meeting was attended by nearly 200 delegates from over 40 different countries. The largest proportion of attendees were from telecom operators (inc. ISPs) followed by Education Networks and governments, giving an indication of the importance that all stakeholders are now giving to the role of AfriNIC and the Internet Number Resources.

The next AfriNIC meeting (AfriNIC-7) is planned for 24 th to 28 th September 2007 in Durban , South Africa . More details will be available soon on AfriNIC meeting page.

AfriNIC-6 was sponsored by Cisco System, ConsulIntel, Internet Society, Netcom, Linkserve, Skannet and Cyber Space. More information about the meeting can be found at http://www.afrinic.net/meeting/afrinic-6.

7 th May 2007

To contact AfriNIC: t: +230 4666616, f: +230 4666758, e:
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Upon a proposal from the Association of African Universities (AAU), AfriNIC, the Regional Internet Registry for Africa, has agreed to provide special pricing to education and research institutions in the AfriNIC service region.

From July 1st 2007, research and education institutions in all African and Indian Ocean Countries will be entitled to a 50% discount on set-up, membership and assignment fees for IP number resources, which AfriNIC assigns to them.

This measure is expected to increase research and development at university level in IP technologies and Internet applications related development.

To the same end, AfriNIC will be holding two joint training sessions with the AAU in 2007, to increase awareness and knowledge on the latest developments in Internet technologies.

This close collaboration between AfriNIC and the Association of African Universities in enhancing Internet access and capacity development for AAU members and other education and research institutions follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding AfriNIC, AAU and AfNOG in September 2006.

Adiel Akplogan, CEO of AfriNIC stated: ‘These measures are the results of AfriNIC's commitment to support the academic and research community in Africa. We have to continue working together for a better involvement of the Academic community to the development of Internet in Africa region’

About AfriNIC AfriNIC is a non-governmental and not-for-profit membership based organisation. Its main role is to serve Africa region as Regional Internet Registry, alike the four other continents which have their own RIR.

AfriNIC’s mission is to provide professional and efficient distribution of Internet number resources to the African Internet community, to support Internet technology usage and development across the continent and strengthen self Internet governance in Africa by encouraging a participative policy development.

About AAU The Association of African Universities (AAU) is the apex organization and forum for consultation, exchange of information and co-operation among institutions of higher education in Africa. It represents the voice of higher education in Africa on regional and international bodies and supports networking by institutions of higher education in teaching, research, information exchange and dissemination.

The Mission of the AAU is to help raise the quality of higher education in Africa and strengthen its contribution to African development by fostering collaboration among its over 200 member institutions.

Through its Research and Education Networking Unit, the Association facilitates the building of synergies among the many information and communications technology (ICT) initiatives for higher education institutions currently under way in Africa, especially the formation of research and education networks. It also supports collective action in relation to increased access to better and cheaper connectivity for the education sector.